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Printed letters, August 22, 2010

The proposed Mosque near Ground Zero in New York City is the Islamic Mount Suribachi.

RALPH NASH

Grand Junction

Salazar’s land-swap plan is a win-win situation

I am writing to address a few articles and letters to the editor that have appeared in The Daily Sentinel recently about Rep. John Salazar’s Central Rockies Land Exchange. Unfortunately, there have been several mischaracterizations of the exchange by opponents who hold a personal grudge against the exchange proponent.

The bottom line is that this land exchange is a good deal for the public. Access to the Gunnison National Forest, Ragged Mountain Trail and Raggeds Wilderness will be enhanced. The National Park Service will get title to a parcel of land in the heart of Curecanti National Recreation Area. The Park Service wants to protect this land, because it has spectacular views of Blue Mesa Reservoir and the Dillon Pinnacles. In addition, they have expressed an interest in constructing a visitor center on a part of this land. However, there is no funding to purchase it. The same is true of the parcel in Dinosaur National Monument that will go into Park Service stewardship.

Opponents of the exchange have been making outrageous claims about the exchange. They have engaged in a deliberate campaign of misinformation, innuendo and rumor, smearing Rep. Salazar, Delta County, Gunnison County, the BLM and Bill Koch. They have contacted all the local papers and submitted letters to the editor, spreading their falsehoods.

You just have to look at the facts and read the bill. Public access in the North Fork Valley and Paonia Reservoir area will be improved. Threatened land in Curecanti and Dinosaur National Monument will be protected. There is simply no downside to this deal. Whether you like Rep. Salazar or not, we should support him on this issue. Call his office and tell him you support the Central Rockies Land Exchange.

PAUL FRITZLER

Grand Junction

Liberal Democrat speaks out of both sides of mouth

Beware of John Salazar and what he says he stands for.

Think back to the health care reform fiasco. Salazar said he wouldn’t vote for it, “unless it had a public option.” However, when the time came, he put his name in the “yea” column, and tried to cover himself by saying, “It was the best we could do at this time.”

I have a letter from his office, wherein he states, “I have talked with lots of my constituents who tell me that they don’t have coverage, and cannot get medical care.” Really? In what world does that happen? Here in the world in which I live, emergency rooms are mandated to take care of the sick or hurt, regardless of their ability or inability to pay. Hospitals are running in the red, and costs are going up for everyone because of those who cannot, or will not pay for medical care.

Illegal immigrants are, in fact, a large and growing percentage of those who visit emergency rooms for their care. Salazar will vote with the administration 99 percent of the time and oppose only when he feels it won’t hurt him. Blue Dog Democrat, he isn’t. He’s a full liberal Democrat.

I don’t buy what he has to sell, because he talks out of both sides of his mouth. This is a representative (“representative” doesn’t describe John Salazar) who cannot find the time to attend a town hall meeting (along with Bennet and Udall) held here in Grand Junction at Mesa State College, but can expend plenty of time to cajole President Barack Obama into holding a town hall at Central High, where the attendees are hand-picked — some representative of the people. We would be as well off if we elected someone from Nebraska. They wouldn’t be any more out of touch than he is.

DAVID F. ZULIAN

Grand Junction

Don’t forget importance of childhood vaccinations

School is starting and there is a lot of information about the various inoculations that are required. I hope everybody will take the seriousness of them into consideration. My youngest daughter got meningitis when she had just turned 2 years old. Who would have known that 13 days after her birthday, she would be gone?

Everyone, including the doctor, thought she just had another one of her frequent colds. That was at 9:30 a.m. By 11, she was burning up and her legs were swelling and turning purple. It soon spread to other parts of her body. Her temperature kept rising and she had an excruciating headache.

The doctors in the small farming community I lived in had no idea what was wrong, so they had us take her to Omaha, 150 miles away. She was gone by 1:30 the following morning.

She was so young to have gone through that horrible ordeal.

I know there are some who don’t really feel all vaccines are necessary, but please consider everything when you make a decision that could, literally, be life or death for your child.